To bag or mulch... a different perspective

[greenflag]

I have had request for bagging. I would normally charge $30 to mow this yard, so I told them an additional $30 to bag plus $30 to take the time off of the route to go find my bag.

They said to mulch it, & they were completely satisfied with the results.

Oh well maybe I can make the big bucks next time.

[hoagie]

Let me clarify on my original post...

Brickman was partially correct, I was slightly aggrivated when I posted and I do appologize for that... If I came off as a little rude and obnoxious, I'm sorry, I'm not here to be a di*k. But the reason behind the aggitation was this: I had a long day (as we all probably did) and was flipping threw some posts... came along one were a guy mentioned bagging some grass, and another fella replied (in a quite condecending manner) something like "why bag the grass, returning clippings is healthier for the turf". Almost like saying, hey dumb as*, dont you know any better.

Now I have seen numerous posts like this from time to time. And it has never really bothered me untill now. Sorry for the vent, but I thought that this is what the board was here for? And still, I just get trashed by everyone.

I never had any intention of insulting anyone who discharges or mulches... BUT I'm sorry to break to news to you fellas...
Bagging just looks better. PERIOD. Not saying that your lawns look like sh*t either. And post all the pics you want... if you're not right there on site, who COULD tell the difference.

To each his own in their own region... but here in New England where it's rainy and cool, the rye/bluegrass grows like a mutherf**ker, espescially when it's freshly juiced, and 85% of your clients are irrigated. If you cut on a weekly basis and leave clippings... it's going to show. I had a customer tell me how much of a difference she notices just last week.... She has a different lawn service (same guy for 10yrs now), I just do the pruning, bed work, brick work, ect... but her lawn guy came earlier that day, and he leaves clippings (side discharge). I pruned the privet all around the prop... then I blow the clippings out of the beds onto the lawn and use the walker to suck them up instead of raking. ANYWAY... I did that and aslo put a couple extra clean up passes on it to make it look nice... that night I got a call from her ranting about how terrific the front yard looked and asking what the heck I did. Which blows my mind considering that she pays $185 for 67k sq and could have a prop that looks 100% nicer, probably for a couple of bucks more. And it also blows my mind that this guy she uses is such a hacker, and does business in this area for so long. Cuts once a wk w/ dull blades, has thatch up the but, and doesnt even trim around everything!! He's in and out in less 1.5hrs by himself. All for $185.

Point is... if a customer is "anal" as I am, they will see a difference. There's alot that couldn't give a shi*. If those are your customers and you can get away w/ s/d or mulching for a quick buck, more power to ya. I'd rather spend the extra time and effort to make it look completely immaculate... and my customers would rather pay extra for it. If I ever tried to mulch w/ one pass on my best props, I would get a call that night. Thats what I meant by the whole lazyness comment... which was uncalled for, I know. But you said it youself... too much time and labor involved.

Believe me guys, as I said I have both a 52 s/d mulcher (which is one of the best around) and a 48 ghs... so I can do either. And I use the 52 quite a bit when or where ever possible (non-irrigated props in late june/july). And I've worked in a different area (upstate NY) where there are few irrigated props and not one gets bagged... and they still look nice.... but not as nice as the props around here

Probably no point in even posting this, or this entire thread for that matter, because it's just going to provoke anger.... but I just had to stick up for us baggers when people post put downs like "dont you know it's better for the lawn", when they have no idea what others are dealing w/. Which all boils down to, do what works in your area, w/ what you have to deal w/.

And just to address the golf course comment (which made me chuckle).... why would golf courses bag when they have a crew on site to cut every day? Point was, if you can cut less than 1/3rd off, mulching looks just as good and no lignan to accumulate thatch. Do you think if premier golf courses hired a LCO to do their prop they would tolerate once per week cuts? And do you think the LCO would side discharge, mulch, or bag the greens? Hmm.

But I still didn't get any replies addressing the original point of this thread...... why do people think it is so much healthier for the grass when you are bombing it 5 time a year? Clippings are 90% h2O, 4-.5-2%(n-p-k). There are no magical nutrients present in clippings that are not in a bag of fert.

[hoagie]

Just to give you a little insight into what type of properties I service here... the lco I worked for the last 2yrs services this property, and won the Honeywell Award for it one year. For any of you eastern MA lco's... this is in Cohasset harbor, if you know the area, you know whose prop this is.

12 acres total (including house), harbor side, house on the market for $45 million. $1,200 per cut... takes a crew of 5 aprox 4-6hrs to cut, bagged, removing around 10 cubic yards of grass per week. 2k of beach raked each week. The home owner is so anal that last year we demoed a walker... currently using bobcat 48 w/b's w/ grass gobblers (ha ha!!).... and he told my employer (at the time) to get rid of the walker, because he didn't like the look of the third wheel. And yes, it would be a tremendous time saver to mulch, but the homeowner will not stand for it.

**Don't get me wrong, this is not the norm! Most are between 1/2 to 2 acres, but the customer mentality is. They all want the look of a country club.

This is only half of the front yard.

[KirbysLawn]

Nice lawn.

[GrazerZ]

Lets see, where do I begin? Why is it that you feel your opinion is sooo valid when you don't even know the answer to such a basic question. Hello, mulching, think of the meaning of the word... also based on what type of grass you may be cutting ex. Ken blue needs as much as 4lds of nitrogen. It has been proven by people with more smarts than you or I that mulching satisfys 1lb of that requirement.
As to weather or not your raking it in, I mean bagging. Who cares. However, I might just point out that if you cut anything of size like we do ex.6-10 acres at one commercial job, you would be hard pressed to keep up when you have to deal with those clippings. Or perhaps your one of those guys with the baggers who cleverly dumps the clippings in little known corner of the property. Anyway, to me slower means lower, per hour that is that your making.
And lastly, if you think that bagging looks that much greater, good for you. However I might also point out that not a few fellow landscapers in my area are very impressed with my Mulched grass. Oh and by the way I forgot to mention that they bag their lawns. It seams that once they saw what grass thats mulched by someone with a clue looks like, they began to doubt the "bagging looks better" propoganda that they were spoon fed by the Walker dealer.

[hoagie]

You obviously hadn't read past the first few sentences of my first post....

[Mark Lawncare]

In some casses bagging will look better. It seems like a good amount of LCO's in the MA-south shore area bag quite a bit. Could they all be wrong?

[Avery]

Simple answer to this discussion is whatever the customer wants. I also hate to bag but for the right money/client I will be more than glad to.

[Sauls1686]

I know im young but IMHO the stripes are darker when you mulch. Mb not but thats how it seems w/my mowers. (the 21"s, i dont have a bagger for the scag)

[michigan mulcher]

I dont bag much,but have to in some cases. I use an accelerator with a 60" tt walkbehind. What is the blade setup underneath youre mowers. Do you use 2 mid-lift blades and a high lift blades on the discharge. Do you run different blades in wet grass? If so, what do you use? John Gamba, how about youre input on this? Most lawns are fine fescue and blue and full of moisture in the spring.